


stranger than earth

by sskkyyrraa



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: most everyone is mentioned but until a later chapter i'm not sure how prominently
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-03 02:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15809058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sskkyyrraa/pseuds/sskkyyrraa
Summary: Mavis is trusting. She’s trusting and she knows her brother. She knows her brother tends to wander. But she’s always trusted him to stay in eyesight or at the very least, on the main path. When she looks up from her digging and finds him missing, she isn’t worried. She sighs, patting her hands clean on her apron.





	stranger than earth

**Author's Note:**

> i may change the title but for now this works.

Mavis is trusting. She’s trusting and she knows her brother. She knows her brother tends to wander. But she’s always trusted him to stay in eyesight or at the very least, on the main path. When she looks up from her digging and finds him missing, she isn’t worried. She sighs, patting her hands clean on her apron.

“Mookie?” she calls. Mavis waits, sitting on her heels with her head tilted for an answer. “Mookie!”

When there isn’t an answer, she stands with a frustrated grunt. She picks up her basket with spell components and heads in the dirrection of the main road. 

“C’mon, Mookie! You know better than to run off!” Now Mavis is mad. Mookie is 12 years old now, too old to have to be watched and kept from getting lost. Mavis stands at the treeline, squinting from the sudden sunlight.

“Hey, Angus? Is Mookie with you?” She says, activating her Stone of Farspeech with a swipe of her thumb. It glows blue-white in her hand. 

“Uuuuh, nope! Did he wander off again?”

“He wandered off again,” she confirms with an eye roll. Angus sighs on his side of the line and there’s a rummaging sound as he stands up. 

“I’ll come meet you. No sense in us all being separated,” he says. Mavis hums, biting her thumb as she glances around.

“Okay. I’m at the road.” 

She waits, pacing up and down the road, scanning the treeline for any sign of either of the boys. Ten minutes pass and Angus doesn’t appear. 

“Angus?” she says into her stone. No answer. Her pulse quickens. She crosses the road to where Angus had entered the woods that morning. It’s not yet noon but the sun bears down heavily on her shoulders and neck. The shade from the trees is a small comfort as she walks past the tree marked with a scarf of red fabric. Across the way is a similar scarf to signify Mavis and Mookie’s path.

“Angus! Mookie!” she yells. Panic begins to creep into her voice and she takes a deep breath to keep herself in check. No need to panic just yet. “Guys! This isn’t funny! You’re starting to scare me!”

So much for that. Maybe, she thinks as she wades through tall undergrowth, if she’s honest they’ll take pity on her and give up on this sick game. Not far ahead she spots another strip of fabric wrapped around a tree branch. Lifting her skirt, she rushes forward. Her foot catches on a root and she trips with a short yelp.

“Ugh!” Mavis kicks her foot free, upsetting and sending a basket tumbling from under the brush. She freezes and the color drains from her face. The basket lands on its side against a tree. Familiar herbs and vegetation spill out. Above, hanging from a branch is Angus’ hat. 

Mavis scrambles backwards and then pitches forward, leaving her own basket behind as she runs out of the trees. She keeps running, up the road and then down the hill and through the gate to her house on the beach. 

“Dad!” Mavis bursts through the door and straight to her father’s arms. She gasps for air while Merle awkwardly pats her on the back. 

“Mavis, sweetie, what happened? Where’s Mookie and Angus?” he asks, gently holding her at arm’s length. She’s not quite crying, but her chest is heaving and her whole body shakes. Her hair is falling loose from its careful bun and she has scratches up and down her arms. Dirt is caked under her nails and staining her apron and smeared across her sweaty face and neck. The flowers usually braided into her hair are crumpled, their petals bruised or missing.

“I don’t know! They were there one second and I was digging for Cohosh root and when I looked up Mookie was gone so I called Angus and he was like ‘Okay let’s meet up!’ and I said okay, cool, and then he didn’t show up and that’s when I knew something was wrong, y’know? So I went to go find him but all I could find was his basket and hat and he wouldn’t-- Angus wouldn’t just  _ do _ that, y’know?” Mavis is crying now, exhausted from the half mile sprint and the stress.

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay, it’s okay. They’ll turn up or we’ll find them,” Magnus says, spreading his arms. Mavis crumples into her uncle’s arms. Taako stands from his seat at the table and busies himself with setting a kettle to boil.

“It’s all my fault. I should have been paying more attention. I didn’t mean t--” 

“Bah! You know those boys! Both too curious and nosey for their own good. I’m sure they’re together solving some mystery or whatever it is you kids do nowadays.” He takes his glasses off and rubs them clean on his shirt. 

“What were you up to in the forest?” Taako asks. He hands her a pink handkerchief and waits while she wipes her face clean and her breathing slows. 

“Looking for spell stuffs,” she says, twisting the cloth in her hands. She looks down at her hands and then back up. Taako keeps his eyes trained on her with an unreadable expression. “I needed materials for potions and Angus for spell components. Mookie was mostly interested in frogs and cool rocks. We never should have split up. I just though-” 

The kettle whistles, interrupting her spiraling. The room is quiet while Taako prepares a cup of peppermint tea. He sets it in front of Mavis, nodding slightly. She takes a shaky breath and drinks. Merle stands up with a loud grunt and Magnus gently stands too, guiding her into the seat. When she sits, she suddenly feels ten times more exhausted. 

“Alright, kid, you stay here and we’ll go see what we can find,” Merle says, patting her knee. 

“Wait! I wanna help!” she jerks forward, nearly spilling her tea. Magnus catches it and places it on the counter and sets her back on the stool. She frowns, not in the mood to be treated like a child. 

“You staying here  _ is _ helping. If they come back or we learn anything new you’ll be the first to know. We’ll be back soon.” 

Magnus wobbles her bun as he walks away, picking up his axe from the front hallway. Merle kisses her forehead before leaving. Taako is already out the door. Mavis watches them walk up the path out the window until they disappear from view. She sips her tea and settles into waiting.

 

\---

 

Angus wakes up when something thumps against his chest. He grunts and blinks away the haze of sleep. He’s not in his bed. That much is obvious by the scratchiness of the blankets and the second bed above him. He shifts to sit up and realizes that curled around him is Mookie, drooling on the pillow next to his head and an arm slung across his chest. 

“Mookie? Mookie, wake up!” 

Mookie smacks his lips, rolling over with a weak mumble of, “five more minutes, da.” Angus rolls his eyes and shoves him over the edge of the bed. 

“Hey!” Mookie yells, sitting up and rubbing his elbow. Angues pushes off the uncomfortable blanket and sits up. He’s wearing his clothes but his socks and shoes are gone, the same as Mookie. Angus thinks Mookie probably wasn’t wearing them in the first place anyways, so it’s not much to go on. Mookie looks around, his eyes squinty. Mavis and Angus have both been nagging him for months to get glasses, but he refuses. His perception checks are usually terrible. 

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t--”

“Where are we?”

“I--”

“Angus, what’s going on? Where’s Mavis?” Angus swallows and shakes his head. Mookie stops. Angus always has the answers, he knows everything. And whatever he doesn’t know, Mavis is sure to. But Mavis isn’t here. Mookie can’t remember the last time he went somewhere without Mavis.

They’re in a large circular room with no obvious windows or doors. Built into the walls are four bunk beds. Some of them have curtains drawn across them. There’s a shelf with a couple books and lots of trinkets on it. In the center of the room is a roughly round table made of wood. Dented plates, cups, and cutlery are generally set up. There aren’t any chairs except low stools set around a fireplace. It’s not lit but it’s lightly smoking and it smells pleasantly of fire. Clothes hang on a line from one end of the room to the other. There’s a chest against the wall farthest from the fireplace. 

“Are you hurt?” Angus focuses on Mookie. He’s standing and looks like he normally does. His headband is slipping out of his hair, pushing his curls into the fitting image of a mushroom cloud. Dirt is perpetually streaked across his nose and his knuckles are still bruised from his latest fight. Mookie seems surprised by the question, patting himself down and trying to look himself over.

“No, I’m fine. I feel… kind of funny?” he says, eyes crinkling up again. Angus frowns, walking over to him. The floor is packed dirt and cool on his feet. He hates it. 

“How so?” Angus puts his hand on Mookie’s shoulder, looking him over. 

“Uh, so. Like. Okay, uh. You know how I don’t do magic?” Mookie is training to be a fighter. He’s only level two because his parents won’t let him get anymore training until he’s older but it doesn’t stop him from wrestling any beast he can get his hands on. Mavis and Angus try their best to keep him out of too much trouble. They’re both real tired of getting lost in cave-dungeons and fighting gerblins, though. He likes magic though. It’s hard not to when so much of his family has such a strong affinity for it. He doesn’t like to study and stay out of fights. Merle always says he looks his happiest when he’s got a black eye or missing tooth. Mookie agrees. 

“Do you feel like someone cast a spell on you?” Angus shuts his eyes. He can feel his own magic hum beneath skin, in his veins. That’s when he realizes his wand is missing. Usually he has it on a cord around his neck, attached to his Stone of Farspeech. It was a thing he did when he was ten and then when he was Mookie’s age, he stopped. Sometime in the past year he started wearing it on a lanyard again because he knew Taako hated it. Without his wand, magic would be too dangerous of a risk to take. Not until he knew more information. 

“Maybe? I dunno. I just feel… weird.” 

“Okay, well. You let me know if anything changes, alright? They took my wand so I can’t cast anything right now.”

“Okay. So, what do we do now?” Angus bites his lip. He’s been in a lot of hairy situations, worst case scenarios that only went from bad to worse. But he’s never been kidnapped before and it’s been a long time since he’s been without magic. Mookie takes his hand, his eyes wide, and he looks so little and young compared to Angus. Angus squeezes his hand and tries his best to look confident. He has to keep a level head, if not for his own sake then for Mookie’s.

“We remain calm. Our captor or captors haven’t hurt us yet. That could mean they’re just using us as a bargaining chips, a way to get to your dad or Taako o-or Magnus or just money in general. I need you to trust me, okay? And listen.  _ Really _ listen and do as I say. Can you do that for me, Mookie?” Mookie nods. “I can’t tell how long we’ve been gone but I know Mavis and I noticed you gone. She’s sure to have alerted someone by now. So they’re gonna be looking for us. For now, we stay together and we go along with whatever the captors say, right? But we need to stay together. We can’t let them separate us. Alright, Mookie? I won’t let them take you.”

“I won’t wander off, either,” Mookie says with a toothy grin. Angus smiles back, letting out a huff of laughter.

“Yeah, I sure hope you don’t. Learned your lesson about that real quick, huh? Let’s take a look around. I don’t see any doors but we had to have gotten in here somehow.” 

Mookie lets go of him and runs to one of the beds, throwing back the curtain. Angus walks to the chest, dragging his fingers across the wall as he goes. They’re made of a smooth, solid wood. He can’t tell what kind but it has a natural finish, the texture seems to be from age and weather rather than a polish. The chest isn’t locked and from what he can tell, there isn’t anything remarkable about it. He thinks, belatedly, that perhaps he should have checked it for traps but it opens with a quiet creak and that’s all. There are wool blankets shoved into it, balled up and smelling of dust. He digs through them, pulling out six of them and then the seventh unrolls and a heavy object drops to the floor with it. He pauses in his search, picking it up. It’s a statue of what could be a woman, but the features are too worn for any details. To a less keen eye, it would better resemble a white blob. It’s about four inches tall and his fingers curl around it easily. It has a grainy texture and a chip from its left shoulder. 

“Angus, check this out!” Angus pockets the statue and turns to Mookie. He has a boxy, stringed instrument in one hand and a cinched bag in the other. “I think they’re marbles!”

Mookie sits on the floor and upends the bag and sure enough, glass marbles spill across the floor. He laughs, chasing them on all fours. Angus picks up the instrument. It’s something like a guitar or maybe a lap harp, made from a hollowed out box of thin wood and taut strings. He plucks a few and it plays tuneless notes. Mookie finishes collecting the marbles and funnels them back into the bag, pocketing them into his cargo shorts. 

“Did you find anything else?” Angus puts the harp carefully back onto the bed, peeking under the blankets. He stands on his toes and peers over the top bunk. The blankets are strewn about and on the pillow is a stuffed bear, missing an eye and the stuffing bursting from one of the leg seams. 

“It’s all, like. Kid stuff. Toys and I found a cool sword!” Mookie brandishes a wooden sword from his belt loop. He waves it around and Angus steps out of reach with a “watch it!” “It’s not as cool as Uncle Magnus’s or my axes but it’ll do.”

“They took your axes?”

“Yeah! Pro’ly ‘fraid of me kicking their butts if they didn’t!” Mookie jumps up on stool, stabbing at the air with a growl. “When I get my hands on ‘em, oooh, I’m gonna, I’m gonna get ‘em! Like this! And this! And I’ll hit ‘em over the head like  _ hiya _ !”

Angus rolls his eyes but can’t help but smile. He’s glad Mookie seems to be bouncing back from his earlier fears. Things still aren’t great but if he can keep Mookie in high spirits and preoccupied then he can focus on figuring out a way to get out of here. He digs through another bunk bed and doesn’t find anything interesting. Just more toys and crude weapons. He’s holding a slingshot when he turns back to Mookie, still play fighting with their captors.

“Mookie. If there’s all this stuff, then where are the other kids?”

 

\---

Merle, Magnus, and Taako return with Mavis and Angus’ baskets. They do not return with Mookie and Angus. By the time they come back, Mavis has already made up about a thousand nightmare scenarios from falling off a cliff to the return of The Hunger™. The door opens and she jumps up from the couch, throwing a book she wasn’t reading off her lap. When she doesn’t see her brother or best friend, she slumps back into the cushions.

“I’m sorry, Mavis, sweetie. We couldn’t find anything,” Merle says, touching her shoulder lightly. She still hasn’t changed or cleaned up, afraid of missing something, anything. 

“Yeah.” She stands up, shrugging her father’s hand away walking to the bookshelf. There’s a picture of Mookie and her from a couple years ago framed on it. She knows she shouldn’t take it out on her dad, it’s no one’s fault but her own for being careless. It’s easier to be angry than deal with the guilt that’s twisting her stomach. “Did you find his hat?”

“I’ve got it,” Taako says, reaching into his side bag. He unfolds Angus’s grey hat. Mavis had told him not to wear it, she knew he would get too hot. He’s no Taako, but he’s just as committed to his brand. Now it’s all they have left of him. Hot tears sting at the corners of her eyes. She wipes them away roughly and storms off. 

“I’m going to bed.”

She doesn’t slam the door, but she locks it and leans her full bodyweight against it. She waits, listening. She can hear shuffling and muffled conversation but no one approaches and tries to talk to her. Mavis wants to believe she’s overreacting. She wants to think that it’s only been a few hours, the sun is only just starting to set, they could turn up in a matter of moments. They’d be sweaty and tired and apologetic, they’d gotten lost, caught up with dealing with some kobolds or helping a townsfolk find their cat. But Mavis (and Merle and Taako and Magnus, too) knows better, knows Angus is responsible, that he doesn’t just run off without telling anyone. It’s true what Merle had said, he’s curious and prone to trouble just like Mookie. They’re two sides of the same coin as much as they like to think they’re so different. Mavis works hard to balance them out and keep them in line. If she wasn’t there to reel them in every weekend would be spent chasing criminals and delivering justice. And she likes working with Angus on his detective cases, she’s happy to help and heal him up after a nasty hit, but she’d much prefer if he and Mookie would just be  _ normal _ and take it easy for once. She doesn’t like to see either of them hurt. This was supposed to be one of those weekends. 

Angus had come to visit with Taako and Magnus for the long weekend. Everyone has been so busy with their own projects that Sunday night, tomorrow, was planned to be a big family dinner with the rest of the IPRE. Davenport was going to arrive in the early morning and he always brought gifts for her, Mookie, and Angus. She wonders if anyone had told him they were missing yet. 

Mavis sinks to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. She chugs the rest of her water canteen and then wastes a spell slot to refill it, chugging again. Water dribbles down her chin and she buries her face into her knees.

“We’re making dinner. Do y-” 

“I’m not hungry.” Mavis cuts off Magnus, her voice harsher than she means it to be. She feels bad because it really isn’t his fault, he’s only trying to help. She doesn’t know how they can be eating at a time like this. They should be out there, searching, not having a sit down dinner like everything is fine. She hears his quiet response of “okay” and then his heavy footsteps. Mavis stands up, pulling off her apron and belt, tossing them onto her desk chair. She doesn’t make it to the bed, collapsing to her knees with a sob. Hot tears suddenly start streaming and she feels like screaming. So she does. She shoves a fist in her mouth and screams. She screams until her throat hurts and then she just wails into her hands. Snot and tears cover her face and she can’t breathe but she can’t stop. She sobs until she can’t sob anymore. Her knees hurt from being on the hardwood floor for so long and her throat is raw. Eventually her crying slows to a hiccuping and she crawls into her bed, sniffling until she passes out.

She rouses from sleep several hours later, her eyes swollen and mouth dry. Mavis sits up, blinking blearily at the clock on her desk. 1:43. She has a headache from dehydration but overall she feels better. She swings her legs over the edge of the bed and sets her plan into action. First, she changes out of her grimy dress into leggings, a pair with reinforced knee padding and her chain shirt and finally her robe, green with the insignia of pan on the chest. She brushes out her hair and then carefully braids it up the back and pulls the rest into a tight bun. She unlocks her door and simultaneously slips into her boots and belt. She double checks she has her Extreme Teen Bible **™** ,  quarterstaff, and other important equipment. When she opens her door she can hear her father snoring down the hall and the guest room Magnus is staying in is closed and dark. The living area is dark.

Mavis is halfway down the hall when she hears a loud ripping sound. She freezes, listening. She doesn’t hear anything else and she crouches low as she creeps the rest of the way, peeking around the corner. Taako and Lup stand in the living room, embracing. Taako’s head is burrowed in her neck and Lup looks up, catching Mavis’s eye. Mavis swings back around the corner, pressing against the wall. 

“I know you’re there, Mavis. Come on out, babe,” Lup calls. Mavis hesitates before slinking out, face set in a deep frown. Lup holds open her arms and beckons her to come closer. Mavis steps forward but doesn’t quite approach. “C’mere.”

Mavis glances at Taako. His ears are droopy and he’s leaning on Lup. Mavis looks back at Lup and closes the distance, letting herself be enveloped in Lup’s scent and warmth. Lup rubs her back and she melts, feeling better than she’s felt in over twelve hours.

“It’s late, what are you doing up?” Mavis stiffens, pulling away. She can’t help but stare at her feet while she lies.

“I was just thirsty.” Lup tuts, tugging the shoulder of her robe away to reveal her chain shirt. 

“In full adventuring gear?” Lup asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“I can’t just sit back while they’re out there, lost and alone and maybe hurt or worse!” 

“Your father and uncles have already looked there’s nothing else w-”

“With all due respect ma’am--” Mavis stops, takes a deep breath. “This is my brother we’re talking about. I was there, I can--”

“You don’t think we don’t understand?” Taako says, his voice quiet. He doesn’t sound angry, not at her at least. Mavis swallows, looks away again. “I get it you want to help but there’s nothing you can do right now.”

“So what? I just sit around?” Mavis wants to yell but instead she just balls up her fist, her nails cutting into her palm. “I know you understand! So why won’t you let me just go!”

“Because you’re sixteen!” Taako says, voice incredulous. “You’re what? Level four?”

“Five.”

“Level five and whoever or whatever it is got Angus at level seven so what makes you think you won’t get got at level five?”

Hot tears threaten to spill again but this time it’s anger and embarrassment. Mavis has worked hard for her accomplishments. She’s only sixteen and been training as a cleric for two years. There are people twice her age who struggle with the spells she was able to cast with no problem. She wasn’t even an adult in human terms, not even close in dwarven years. How  _ dare _ he insinuate she’s weak or stupid compared to Angus, a human wizard that she keeps from dying every other week because he’s a child with the hubris of a spoiled prodigy. Just because she doesn’t have the formal education that Angus has doesn’t mean she isn’t just as capable. 

“Taako, stop it. Mavis, honey, we just don’t want you to be hurt. We don’t know what we’re working with yet. In the morning we’re gonna go out and look again. Davenport, Barry, Lucretia, and Kravitz will all be here to help. I know you want to do more but right now the most productive thing we can do is just keep calm and wait.” Lup rubs between Mavis’s shoulders. She’s surprised to feel Taako wrap an arm around her too. They sit on the couch, Lup in the middle. Taako and Mavis cuddle close into her side. She strokes her fingers through Taako’s hair and up and down Mavis’s back. No one says anything for a long time.

“I’m sorry,” Mavis whispers in the dark. Lup hushes her. “I was supposed to take care of them and I was stupid and careless and--”

“It doesn’t help to blame yourself. What happened happened. We’re gonna fix this and we’re gonna get them back, okay?” Taako says. Mavis sniffles. “ _ I’m _ gonna get them back. Because I can’t do this again. Not again. Never again.”

Lup tightens her hold on her brother and Mavis lays across the laps of her aunt and uncle and she can’t say anything for sure but she thinks she sees tears fall from Taako’s eyes before she passes out again.

 

The smell of bacon and a crink in her neck is what wakes Mavis up next. She’s curled up on the couch with an afghan thrown over her. Quiet chatter drifts in from the kitchen. The morning is cold and she stumbles into kitchen wrapped in the blanket. The whole IPRE gang is in the kitchen. Lup and Taako are at the stove, whipping up pancakes and oatmeal while the rest wait at the table, picking at bacon. Mavis sits between Merle and Lucretia. Lucretia squeezes her hand briefly, moving her pull her hand away but Mavis keeps the grip tight. Merle smooths down her flyaways and murmurs a greeting into her temple. There’s a tense silence but Mavis feels automatically better just by having her family there. Someone must have called them because no one except Davenport was supposed to arrive before late afternoon. Taako hands her a bowl of oatmeal and Barry pushes her the strawberries and Davenport pushes her the blueberries and Magnus offers the brown sugar and walnuts. It's not until just now that she realizes how hungry she is. She scarfs down a bowl of oatmeal with all the fixings and then two pancakes and a seemingly endless amount of bacon. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Lucretia asks, pulling out a notebook. 

“Merle and I are going to head into town and ask around, warn people to keep both their children and themselves inside until we take care of this. The rest of y’all can fan out, cast Locate Creature and just keep an eye out for illusions and traps and clues. Mavis, this is where you will be a big help. You can point us in the right direction of their last known location and give any additional details about the area.” Davenport says, kneeling on his stool. 

Mavis nods. Finally she can be of use. Her leg bounces, ready to get going. Too slowly, everyone finished breakfast and gets ready for a long day under the sun. Mavis fixes her hair again, letting her father tuck some flowers between the strands. Geranium for comfort, heliotrope for faithfulness, laurel for perseverance. She leads her family through the gate and up the hill and down the road to where the red scarves still mark the trees. She goes with Barry and Lucretia down her path, pointing Taako, Magnus and Lup in the direction of Angus. 

The three of them slowly make their way through the woods. They keep a slow place for Mavis, undergrowth that hits them at the knee tangles her at the hip and higher. Barry slices a path with a machete. It’s been an hour and they’re deeper than Mavis had reached in the woods. She feels her chest tighten as they find nothing to show any evidence of their existence. Magnus checks in and says they haven’t found anything either. Barry tentatively suggests they spread out a big further, keeping Mavis between him and Lucretia. Mavis agrees, moving forward as fast as she can manage. Roots and ferns seem to be reaching for her ankles, trying to drag her deep into the earth. She pushes through, yelling for Mookie and Angus.

“Mavis….” Mavis pauses, spinning around for the origin of the voice. A voice rasps out her name again and she presses a hand to a tree, straining her ears. “Mavis, please…!”

“Mookie?” she says, walking forward. She can hear Lucretia and Barry move forward. They stop, turning to her when she speaks.

“What?” Barry says. Mavis holds up a finger, flapping her other hand. It’s silent, not even the wind rustling or a bird singing. They stare at each other, waiting for something to happen.

“Mavis, help!” this time it’s clear as day. Angus cries, hurt in his voice. Mavis stumbles forward.

“Mookie! Angus! Where are you?” she yells, ignoring Barry and Lucretia. She jumps over a rotting tree trunk and under a fallen branch. In the distance she can hear her name being called. Her short legs pump, skidding through mud and tripping briefly over obstacles.

“Mavis! Mavis! Help me! Help me, Mavis!” yells Mookie. Mavis runs faster and she knows she needs to tell the adults what’s going on but she can’t stop, all she can focus on it her brother’s voice. It doesn’t seem any closer than before and she keeps running. Her chest hurts and her legs are on fire but they’re moving so much faster. If she can just catch up, she’ll be able to bring them home. She thinks she sees him ahead, between some trees. She screams Angus’s name, begging him to stop and wait for her, she can help him,  _ please Angus, please I’m right here _ . 

Mavis screams when something sharp pierces her shoulder. She stops running and she looks down. An arrow sticks out of her shoulder. She stumbles back, hands flying to the puncture. Before she can cast anything, another arrow strikes her right in the chest and she falls to the ground. Pain courses through her body like she’s never felt before. She reaches out, eyes unfocused, body throbbing from pain and lack of blood. She opens her mouth to say something but blood spills out instead. Her head goes light and she feels like she’s swimming. She reaches up a hand and a face enters her blurry vision. She blinks rapidly, ears clogged and body heavy. She gurgles.

“Mookie?”

Mavis wakes up. 

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a comment i very rarely do multi chaptered fics but i have a good feeling about this but i cant do it without ur encouragement!!!! if u don't comment this will end up being another one of those wip's lost to time. also it makes me feel good about myself. please hmu on tumblr @lesbianwario im a lot of fun


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